


I've got you, brother

by nerdbeyondlimits



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Feels, Blood, Drowning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Hurt Shiro, Gunshot Wounds, Happy Ending, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Shiro (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Siblings, Major Character Injury, Missions Gone Wrong, Near Death Experiences, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sad things you guys, Struggling to breathe, Trauma, Unconsciousness, Vomiting, and i had to share them, bad shit goes down yall, dont blame me please, i got some feels, so here you are, some of this was written at like one am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-23 23:31:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15617448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdbeyondlimits/pseuds/nerdbeyondlimits
Summary: Hey you guysSo, I wanted to post this before season seven airs, and hopefully I'll have all three chapters up by then. This work was heavily inspired by the song Brother by Kodaline, so i suggest y'all go listen to it while reading this. Though, it might contain some spoilers for the future chapters... hehHere's the lion alignments, and I imagine this fic takes place somewhere around season three? Shiro is here anyways, and he's not a clone yet.Shiro - BlackKeith - RedLance - BluePidge - GreenHunk - YellowAnyways, the title is also from the song, and with that said... enjoy? Or cry, I suppose...





	1. Dying on my knees

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you guys  
> So, I wanted to post this before season seven airs, and hopefully I'll have all three chapters up by then. This work was heavily inspired by the song Brother by Kodaline, so i suggest y'all go listen to it while reading this. Though, it might contain some spoilers for the future chapters... heh  
> Here's the lion alignments, and I imagine this fic takes place somewhere around season three? Shiro is here anyways, and he's not a clone yet.  
> Shiro - Black  
> Keith - Red  
> Lance - Blue  
> Pidge - Green   
> Hunk - Yellow
> 
> Anyways, the title is also from the song, and with that said... enjoy? Or cry, I suppose...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Keith were brothers.
> 
> Shiro had a dad. Keith had not. Shiro was Japanese, Keith was Korean. Shiro was tall, Keith was short. Shiro was type O-negative, Keith was type B-positive. Shiro was a Pisces, Keith was a Scorpio. The differences went on and on. But all that didn't matter. They were brothers in every way that meant something. They always had each others' backs. They didn't give up on one another. And they would do anything to keep the other safe. No matter what. They always had each other. 
> 
> Because Shiro and Keith were brothers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you guys  
>  So, I wanted to post this before season seven airs, and hopefully I'll have all three chapters up by then. This work was heavily inspired by the song Brother by Kodaline, so i suggest y'all go listen to it while reading this. Though, it might contain some spoilers for the future chapters... heh  
>  Here's the lion alignments, and I imagine this fic takes place somewhere around season three? Shiro is here anyways, and he's not a clone yet.  
>  Shiro - Black  
>  Keith - Red  
>  Lance - Blue  
>  Pidge - Green  
>  Hunk - Yellow
> 
> Anyways, the title is also from the song, and with that said... enjoy? Or cry, I suppose...

Shiro and Keith were brothers.

Shiro had a dad. Keith had not. Shiro was Japanese, Keith was Korean. Shiro was tall, Keith was short. Shiro was type O-negative, Keith was type B-positive. Shiro was a Pisces, Keith was a Scorpio. The differences went on and on. But all that didn't matter. They were brothers in every way that meant something. They always had each others' backs. They didn't give up on one another. And they would do anything to keep the other safe. No matter what. They always had each other.

Because Shiro and Keith were brothers.

 

* * *

 

Shiro was walking down the halls, stretching his arms and groaning. It was early morning, and all his joints felt like they had been encased in concrete for the last eight hours of sleep. All the training and battles had begun to take their toll on his body. _Maybe I'm getting old,_ he thought bitterly.

Someone who wasn't lacking any energy, though, was Keith. Despite the time only being six in the morning (earth time) he was already on the training deck, getting in a few additional hours of combat sparring. Shiro had tried to talk him out of pushing himself too hard; he was getting more than enough practice in their daily paladin training.

Keith had been stubborn, but they did eventually come to a compromise that Keith would eat breakfast together with the rest of them which limited his morning trainings to some degree. Shiro also made him promise that he'd take pauses now and then, and tell Shiro the second he was too worn out to train or sustained an injury. Too many times had he found Keith on the verge of passing out, insisting that he was fine.

The condition was that those incidents were going to stop. His younger brother had grudgingly agreed on the terms. That didn't hinder Shiro from checking in on him during his morning routine, though.

 

Knocking one time on the door to announce his presence, Shiro stepped into the deck. Keith didn't bat an eye; he was used to Shiro visiting at this hour by now. The entirety of his focus was aimed at the combat bot swinging its spear in vicious blows. Shiro watched as his brother dodged, rolled on the floor and jumped up from behind, impaling the bot and disarming it. The power went out with a whirr and Keith let his bayard clatter to the floor, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“Mornin'” he said without even having turned.

“Good morning.” Shiro grabbed Keith's water bottle from the floor and handed it to him. He chugged half of it in one gulp. Wiping his mouth, he nodded a thanks and went to pick up his spare clothes from one of the benches.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“Almost half past six. You've got half an hour.” The time for breakfast was seven, and the promise of Hunk's cooking got everyone out of their rooms in time. They'd been blessed with the yellow paladin's affinity for food. Shiro didn't want to think of how it would have been to live in the castle with only Coran's meals to sustain oneself. He actually shuddered imagining it.

“I can count”, Keith deadpanned.

“Sure you can. It's as easy as knowing in what order the months come.”

“Oh my god, Shiro, that was _one time!_ ”

“You said that November came before September!”

“ _One time._ One time, and he never forgets, You're a goddamn elephant.” Shiro kept teasing him on the way to the showers, where they split up.

Shiro went straight to the kitchen and waited there for the others. Hunk showed up twenty minutes to seven and began preparing their breakfast. On today's menu: space yogurt parfait, with juniberries and something that tasted like honey but was a bright blue colour. Allura showed up next, with Coran in tow. She gasped when she saw the table.

“Ah! Juniberries! These were my favourites when I was young. They do leave quite a stain if you spill them, though... It looks delicious, however! You've really outdone yourself, Hunk.” Shiro nodded in agreement.

“Thanks, princess. I struggled a bit with the consistency, but I think it turned out fine...” They were interrupted by Pidge and Lance coming through the door, bickering as usual. Keith didn't arrive long after, hair still wet from the showers. Lance joked about his hair as per usual order, and if it had any real bite to it, Shiro might've shut it down. As it was now, Keith only laughed and retorted with a joke about the blue paladin's skin routine.

And so the morning went on, with more praise about the food, more bickering and a general good feeling throughout the whole breakfast.

When they'd all finished, Allura clapped her hands and stood up.

“Right. Today, I was thinking we could take the lions out an do some light-” A shrill beeping sound cut her off, and she turned to the tablet she had brought to the table. After pushing some buttons, Kolivan's face filled the screen.

“Princess Allura” he greeted.

“Kolivan. What is the cause of your call?” They certainly didn't waste time on polite small talk, Shiro absently noted.

“One of my outposts have spotted a galran ship in the third quadrant, not far from you. We've been trying to find it for weeks. It is believed to house several prisoners of great prestige from the planets in the coalition. Freeing them would be proving to both the galra empire and our allies that Voltron is strong enough to take on Zarkon, Lotor and Haggar.”

“That sounds like a brilliant idea. Would you send me the details of the missions, as well as the ship's coordinates? We will be right on it.”

“Already doing it, princess.”

“Excellent. I'll report to you at the end of the day.” The video call ended and Allura looked up from the screen.

“I trust you all heard that?” A chorus of positive answers met her.

“Great. We'll debrief the info Kolivan send us on the bridge.”

 

* * *

 

Two hours later, they were all in their hangars, preparing to get in the lions and launch the saving mission. Shiro was just finishing securing his armour, and opened a comm link with the rest of the team.

“All right. Everyone clear on the plan?”

“Yep. I approach the ship in cloaking and begins to fire like crazy to get the upper hand. Then you and Hunk back me up. Lance will cover your backs and try to disarm their long-range weapons. Meanwhile, Keith will have snuck in with the red lion and will climb onboard the ship. I'll join him, and the two of us will free the prisoners while you keep the ones in command busy with oncoming fire.”

“Okay, good. Everyone ready?” Four “yeah's” answered him, as well as Allura from the bridge, where she was supervising the whole situation, ready to wormhole the lions away if worst came to worst.

Taking the lead in the black lion, Shiro left the hangar. Setting his course on the third quadrant, he felt his mind snap into focus. Whenever he charged into battle, it was like someone adjusted a camera lens in his brain, sharpening his every sense and blocking out all that was not important to the battle. It scared him a bit, that he so easily went in to the role of a soldier. The subject lied a bit too close to his period as Champion to be pleasant, but in the big picture it didn't matter. He was a paladin, not a Champion, and he fought good for good causes. It didn't have to be harder than that.

 

* * *

 

In the red lion, Keith was experiencing a similar transformation. If he'd gotten his way, the comms would be muted all through the mission. He fought best when nothing interfered with the mapping of the plan in his minds. At the same time, he knew that if he had indeed gotten his way, the mission would probably be porked before it had even started. Communication was, how cliché it might sound, the foundation of good teamwork. And so he let the comms run with the voices of his team-mates and fought to remain concentrated.

The plan started out well. When the ship became visible on their radars, Pidge activated her cloaking and went first. When she reported that she had begun shooting and indeed taken the commands by surprise, Lance, Hunk and Shiro hurriedly followed her. Meanwhile, Keith flew in a circle so that he would be approaching the galra ship from the opposite direction his team-mates were.

When he arrived, shots blazed in the darkness from all different directions. Every now and then, his team-mates would shout warnings to each other. As he dove under the ship's underbelly, he activated his own mic.

“I'm in position. Pidge, are you on your way?”

“I'm right behind you, nuthead. Cloaking, remember.” Keith's cheeks reddened.

“Oh, yeah. Right. Anyway, see that hangar there? That's where we're going in.”

“Got it.”

 

* * *

 

Ten minutes later, he was exiting his lion. Pidge was already standing on the floor of the hangar. She had pulled up the lay-out of the ship that they had gotten from Kolivan.

“Follow me,” she muttered. Keith didn't bother answer, only readied his bayard and kept close behind her as she jogged through the halls. Ever so often, the ship would shake from the heavy fire from outside, Pidge would stumble and Keith would swear. The longer it took them to get to the cells, the greater was the risk to get noticed. It was taking them too much time to get there, time they didn't have. When they finally reached the correct cells without any incidents, Keith was almost too relieved to quite believe it was that easy.

He let Pidge work out the locks and hoard together the prisoners, explaining the situation. Meanwhile, he positioned himself in the end of the corridor, keeping watch with his bayard out ready for any bypassing guards. There was some muttering from the prisoners from behind, and he hoped to god that they were obedient enough not to make any sounds or other distractions on the way back.

Listening to them, he almost missed the familiar crackle of a blaster. Ducking instinctively, he rolled out of the way. Once he got to his knees he caught sight of the owner of the weapon. A guard stood in an intersection about forty feet from him. He cursed himself for not having noticed it sooner.

“Pidge”, he hissed. “We've got company. Keep them out of the fire.”

“Okay. Can you take them down by yourself?”

“Yeah,” he said and launched from his position. Catching the guard by surprise, its aim was bad, the first few shots missing him by several inches. However, the closer he got, the more precision they gained. A searing pain in his shoulder told him one had hit. It didn't do much more than cause a slight stumble though, and not long after the guard was within sword distance. It didn't take him long to disarm it by then. Returning to Pidge, he found that she had ushered all off the prisoners out of the cells. She was waiting for him with them in tow at the end of the corridor. She frowned when he approached her, clearly noticing the shot wound.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, it's only a scratch. I'll be fine until we can reach the caste. Is this everyone?” He motioned toward the prisoners.

“Yeah.” Shiro's voice came through the comms.

“What's going on? What's with Keith?”

“I'm fine,” he began, but Pidge cut him off.

“He got shot in the shoulder by a blaster, but I'm pretty sure he'll be okay for now.”

“All right. Just be careful.”

“Yes, Shiro”, Pidge said. She turned to the prisoners. “Okay, let's go. It's not far, but remember, be _quiet._ ” She and Keith led the way through the halls. Keith waited until he was sure none of them could hear him.

“Pidge, I'm okay, but the guard. It might have-”

“Had the time to send out an alarm? Yeah, I know. We'll just have to deal with that if it did.” Keith was glad that the green paladin was so pragmatic.

“Okay, good.” They turned a corner, and were immediately under heavy fire. Diving back in, Keith swore loudly. There had been at least fifteen sentries out there.

“We need to take them through there to get to the lions,” he said.

“I know.” Pidge addressed the prisoners. “Stay here, okay? We'll take care of the sentries. When I tell you to, run through the corridor and to the left, okay?”

They all nodded, as did Keith.

“On three?” Pidge smirked.

“Yeah. One, two,”

“Three!” Together they threw themselves out from the wall. Going for the first sentry he caught sight of, Keith swung his sword and brought its head clean off. He could vaguely hear Pidge yell and the clashes of her bayard as it electrified its victims, but he was mainly focused on his own enemies. He trusted Pidge could handle herself.

The fight went surprisingly well, and he was almost beginning to believe they could get out of it unscathed when Pidge's shrill warning rung out in the air. He noticed it too late, of course. It wouldn't have be possible to register it fast enough to react. Instead, he only had time to draw a deep breath, as if unknowingly bracing himself. Right after, he stumbled forward with the force from the bullet burying itself in his stomach. A half-choked yell wrestled itself from his throat, and then he was falling face-first into the floor.

The impact on the metal below was somehow even worse than the shot itself, or maybe he was just now processing it. His brain was still set on not bringing any attention to their group, and so he didn't scream. Instead, a groan slipped past his lips.

“Keith! Fuck!” Pidge was shouting, but whether it was at him or the team or someone else, he couldn't tell. The sound of blasters were still zinging in the corridor, and he was urgently reminded of the fact that they were in the middle of a fight. And now Pidge was on her own.

Summoning the last of his strength, he rolled over on his side. The voices in his comms were coming back into focus again, and he winced at their intensity and volume.

“Guys...” he rasped, before tasting the blood in his mouth and gagging. Tearing off his helmet, he spat on the ground until the saliva was only faintly pinkish instead of bright red.

“Hold on, Keith. Hold on,” someone was saying from the helmet, but he found that he hadn't enough strength to answer them.

Suddenly Pidge was kneeling beside him, turning him over on his back. She must have defeated the rest of the guards. He struggled to get his elbows underneath him to push himself up in a sitting position, but Pidge firmly pinned him down by the shoulders. As much as it stung his shoulder wound, it was nothing compared to the fire in his stomach.

“Stay still, you idiot. Moving will only make it worse. Did you have to go and get shot?”

“S'rry” he slurred, mildly surprised at his lack of ability to form coherent words.

“It's okay. It'll be all right, you hear me?” She was silent for awhile, and Keith almost began to think that she had left again, but the her hand came down to support his head on the ground.

“No, that won't work.” At once he understood that she was talking to someone via the comms. Motioning weakly for his helmet, Pidge placed it beside him and activated his mic so that the team could hear him and he could hear them.

“Pidge, how bad is it? Describe it as clearly as you can?” Shiro's voice. Pidge swallowed.

“He's bleeding really bad. The shot hit him right in stomach... The bullet's still in, I think.”

“Good, that's good. It'll help to stop the blood flow, at least a little bit.” Keith's mid provided a mental image of the bullet lodged inside his stomach, acting like a cork in a bottle, and what would happen if it potentially came out... and promptly turned away from Pidge to empty the contents of his stomach on the floor.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck...” Pidge was muttering above him.

“What happened?” Shiro asked, sounding slightly less collected.

“He threw up. I don't know why. Keith? Keith, can you hear me?” He nodded faintly, barely having enough energy to lift his chin up to look at her.

“You've gotta get the prsoners... Out ohere. The prsonrs, Pdge...”

“I know we gotta get the prisoners out, but I gotta get you out, too” she said.

“Lve me.”

“No.”

“Y...es.” He was struggling to breath now, and was getting increasingly more annoyed with Pidge. Why wouldn't she just take the prisoners and leave? He didn't have the energy to argue with her... or do anything else for much longer. Taking on another angle, he spoke through the comms.

“Shrro. Tell her to go...”

“Pidge, look. Keith is right, we've gotta get those prisoners out of there.”

“What? But...!

“No, look. I'm not saying we're leaving Keith. I'm saying you're taking the prisoners to green and leaving with them. Take them to the castle as quick as you can. I'll go in and get Keith. Just... place him somewhere out of sight, okay? And tell me his coordinates. Pidge's voice had take on a hard tone.

“Okay. But I'll never forgive you if this goes wrong.”

Keith thought he heard Shiro mumble 'neither will I', but it was hard to tell when his blood was pumping loudly in his ears. Absently he wondered why there seemed to be so much in there when most of his armour and the floor was covered in it, too. That thought made his stomach lurch again and he closed his eyes. No thinking about the hole in his stomach, got it.

Pidge was tugging gently at his shoulders.

“Keith, I'm gonna have to drag you across the floor to the alcove we saw earlier, remember? You're too heavy for me to carry, and I'm sorry, but this is the only way.”

“It's okay...” But when Pidge started pulling him across the floor, and the back of his armour grated painfully against the metal... he remembered screaming, and then he must've passed out, because the next time he opened his eyes, he was leaning against the inner wall of the alcove. Pidge was in front of him, and her face was streaked with tears.

 _Shit._ Did he make her cry?

“No, you didn't, stupid.” Oh. He must have said it out loud. “It's okay, you'll be okay. Just stay here. Shiro will come get you.” He managed a nod, and then she stood, said something and before long she was gone.

Keith tried focusing on his breath, on the way his chest expanded instead of the pain it caused to do so. He was trying desperately to acquire that feeling of sharpened focus again, but the pain kept interfering, kept blocking the signals like a damaged conduit.

 

* * *

 

Shiro was pinpointing his focus on that red dot blinking on his map, the one that represented Keith. A hurting, dying Keith, according to Pidge. Shiro shook his head as he navigated through the halls. _Patience yields focus._

Before he entered the ship, he'd just had enough time to see the green lion closing in on the castle. Pidge hadn't talked since she left Keith, and no one wanted to ask her anything. Seeing a team-mate shot before you're very eyes, knowing full well that he might not survive the day, and then having to leave said team-mate alone with the knowledge that before anyone else got to him, he might already be dead dead dead dead _NO._

Shiro would not let those thought gain any control over him. Keith needed him, and he was not helping anyone by panicking. Turning one last corner, he finally caught sight of the alcove Pidge had described. For a split second, he almost wished he hadn't, and was consumed by guilt instantly afterwards.

Still, it was _hard,_ hard seeing Keith like this, knowing that you were the one who had to handle it, knowing that his life might depend on your capability.

His chest armour was cracked, the undersuit coloured an even darker black than it's usual. A small trail of blood was dribbled down his chin, and his eyes was clouded and half lidded. Skidding to a stop in front of him, Shiro placed one gloved hand on the side of his brother's face.

“Keith? Keith, are you there?” Keith blinked slowly once, then again, before he finally recognised Shiro's face.

“I think I'm dy'ng...” he mumbled.

“I don't care Keith, you know I don't. I don't care if it should be impossible for you to be alive, because you'll live, do you hear me? _You'll live._ ”

“If you say so...” Keith managed.

“I'm going to lift you up know, okay?”

“Okay. But Shro... If I... If I d-”

“Stop. I won't allow you. Just shut up and breathe, all right?” Keith hesitated.

“...All right.” Shiro braced himself, and then placed on arm under Keith's knees, the other one by his shoulder blades and hoisting him up. A gargled noise escaped his little brother's throat. His eyes were tightly closed, his mouth pressed into a thin line that melted together with his nearly white face. Shiro could tell that he was holding back a scream, or tears, or both.

“It's okay”, he murmured. “You're okay. You'll be fine.” The run to his lion was a blur, colours and direction mixed with occasional groans from Keith and questions from the team. He had no idea if he was able to answer any of them, and eventually they died down, as if they sensed Shiro's state of mind.

Hunk had already picked up the red lion, so he didn't have to worry about getting her home, too. Instead, he barged into Black. She too, sensed his distress. An extra pilot chair popped up beside his usual one, and he carefully put Keith down into it. Barely saving time to sit down, he piloted Black out of the hangar, speeding toward the castle. Allura shortly informed him that they had a cryopod ready for him. Lance and Hunk was flanking him all the way back, shielding him from fire and sending back their own when needed. Shiro got the feeling that both paladins would have absolutely destroyed the ship and all its crew fro what they did to Keith if it wasn't for the fact that they still didn't know if he'd live.

As soon as he got into the hangar, he spoke to Keith again.

“I'm gonna pick you up again, okay?” This time he could barely coax an answer out of Keith. Cradling him in his arms, he whispered to him.

“I've got you, brother. I've got you, all right? I've got you.” Tears were falling from his eyes, but he kept himself from sobbing, not wanting to alarm Keith. His eyes were dangerously close to slipping shut, and Shiro was getting more and more desperate. He was practically staggering out of the black lion, where he was met by the remaining team. When Hunk and Lance tried to coax him to let Keith go to be taken to the pods on a stretcher, he found that it was physically hard to let go of his brother's body. _No, not body, that makes it sound like he's dead,_ his mind told him.

“I've got you, I've got you” He kept repeating it like a mantra, like it was the only think keeping Keith alive. The only thing keeping himself alive. And when they finally got Keith out of his arms, his throat stopped working, and along with it his legs. They gave out and he collapsed on the floor of the hangar. The last thing he remembered was seeing Allura and Lance running towards the pods with the stretcher.

 

* * *

 

Keith could've sworn he could still taste the blood on his tongue when the pod disposed of him, deeming him all fixed up, like a patched rag doll.

He was coughing, the sweet taste of it making him nauseated all over again, when someone caught hold of his shoulders and pulled him tight to their chest. His own lungs were heaving with the effort of trying to hack the blood taste away, but the coughs died down with the help of a pair of hands soothing down his back. Regaining his composure, he leaned back a fraction, meeting the eyes of the person holding him.

“Hi, little brother.”

“Shiro,” he breathed, holding back a sob. “I thought... I thought I would...”

“I know. I know, Keith. It's okay. I've got you, Keith. I've got you.”

And though his stomach was still twinging painfully and his mind was filled with the images of his blood spilling out on the floor of some galra ship, he felt safe. He felt at home.

 

Because Shiro and Keith were brothers. They always had each other.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so that was it. Leave a commentor some kudos if you liked it, or perhaps hop on over to my instagram page:   
> @nerd_beyond_limits  
> I do shitty drawings if you like that:)   
> (Please don't judge me for that shameless self promo, im desperate)


	2. Give you my lungs so you could breathe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking on the second galra, he didn't pay any attention to Shiro until he'd disarmed that one, too. Turning around, he realised Shiro must've been distracted by keeping an eye on him, despite his promise not to right now. He still had one enemy left, and as Keith watched in horror, that one managed to get in a hit on Shiro's head. Curse the fact that neither of them had their helmets on! Shiro was sent stumbling backwards, reeling on the rounded edge of the black lion. His eyes met Keith's, and they were full of remorse.
> 
> He tipped backwards into the sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I have a feeling this chapter might be rubbish cos I've been writing nonstop for six hours, it's the middle of the night and i've been drinking like two pots of tea (i have such a healthy life-style, don't you think?), but... what the hell, i'll post it and regret it in the morning, i guess.
> 
> Anyways, inspired by the song Brother by Kodaline, which is where the title is from as well. Enjoy this crappy chapter!

 

Keith yawned. It was early even for him – or late, rather. He'd gone to bed by midnight, woken up from a nightmare at one, and then found himself unable to fall asleep again. Now it was four in the morning, and he 'd figured he might as well wander around the castle for some time instead of sit in his bed and stare at the wall.

The nightmares hadn't begun after his near-death experience a couple of months ago, but they had definitely worsened. It was always the same; seeing his blood rather than feeling it pumping in his veins. And there was Shiro, crying face hovering above his, slipping away as the pool of blood got bigger. He was far past the point of being able to part memory from imagination.

By now it was just a game of forgetting all the bad things whenever he woke up. Even then, he had to struggle to keep the flashbacks at bay.

No one had expected him to walk out of that fight without some type of trauma – physical or mental. No one except perhaps Keith himself. That was how it was supposed to work – you went in the pod for some time and when you came out you were all fixed up.

Well, apparently not. Not since he was still lurching awake with phantom pains of the gunshot wound wringing through his stomach. One time it had been so real he'd thrown up. He'd told the others he had a cold and stayed in his room all day after that, though he doubted anyone had believed him. No one accused him of lying though, and maybe that was the worst of it all. It was as if dying had given him a free-pass to behave however he liked.

And that was nice, or at least nicely meant, he supposed. But the thing was, Keith was beginning to long for routines. The strict pattern of waking up after a night that may have been plagued by nightmares, but at least not nightmares like _this._ Training for a couple of hours, eat breakfast with the team, then maybe a mission or more training. In the evening they'd eat dinner and after Pidge would sometimes rig a movie, or they play Monsters and Mana, or something else disguised as team bonding.

But now everyone tiptoed around him. Pidge wouldn't pick movies where a single character died (Keith had to admit, the one time she did, he was forced to fight back a full blown panic attack, so maybe she had a point). But it was all so frustrating, still.

Therefor, the distress beacon came like a relief. The first few weeks after he came out of the pod he hadn't been allowed on any missions, and when he was finally clear, no missions had been on the schedule.

Now, though, the assembly on the bridge spoke in his favour. It was still ungodly early, and most of the team was still hiding yawns behind hands, listening to Allura with half-closed eyes.

“All right”, Allura said. “We've picked up a distress beacon from a nearby planet. They say a troupe of galra have landed.”

“Only a troupe? Can't they handle that by themselves?” Lance asked.

“Usually, yes. But this planet's surface is 95% covered in water. The population is very small, very pacifistic and very unprepared for any kind of attack.” Lance immediately perked up.

“Water? Like, seas, water?”

“What other kind is there?” Pidge grumbled from her seat on the floor. Lance ignored her.

“Oh, I've missed water so freaking much, you have no idea!”

“So, when are we leaving?” Keith interrupted, wanting to steer the conversation back on track before it was too late.

“As soon as possible” Allura answered as Shiro said,

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Keith? You're still recovering, and...”

“Coran cleared me weeks ago, Shiro. I'm fine.” The unsaid 'physically' hung in the air, but no one wanted to comment on it. Shiro still looked hesitant.

“Shiro...” Keith began.

“Fine. But you're flying with me and Black.”

“What?!”

“Shiro, are you sure that is the best way to go about this? The red lion is...”

“The opposite element of that planet. I'm with Shiro. Sorry Keith, Allura. Just this time, before we're sure what is...” Hunk trailed off.

“Wrong with my head?” Keith said bitterly. Hunk's eyes grew big.

“No, no, I didn't mean it like that...”  
“It doesn't matter. I'll go with the black lion if it makes you happy. I'm going to change.” With that, he turned and left the bridge.

Admittedly, he did feel a bit bad about being so snappish, but at the same time... They had really all been thinking what he'd said, hadn't they? And he was tired of everyone avoiding the matter as if just mention it might scatter him into pieces.

 

When Shiro finally entered the black lion, Keith had already changed into his armour, and still waited for about twenty minutes. He was leaning against one of the walls, despite the extra chair still being up. Someone had scrubbed it clean off his blood, but just looking at it sent him back to that day. Shiro cast one glance at it and came to the same conclusion, sending it down again.

“Allura sent a debriefing to your helmet,” Shiro informed him in a clipped voice.

“Thanks.” He pulled it up and checked it over while Shiro took the lion out of the hangar. The others were chatting quietly as they flew toward the planet.

“So you and I are on outlook, basically?” Keith finally asked.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” The conversation died out.

Keith would've never thought he would be this awkward with his brother, but on the other hand, he had just accused him of calling him mad, so, maybe it wasn't that odd.

 

* * *

 

 

Allura had gone with Hunk in the yellow lion, and now the two of them together with Pidge was talking to the heads of the largest village of the planet, which still wasn't much bigger than Keith's town back home. And that had been a right up rathole, with nothing in it. Lance was keeping watch on the other side of the tiny, man-made (or alien-made, he supposed) island that housed the village.

Black was positioned on what would've been the west shore, except all the space had been covered by cabins, so they'd settled with lowering the black lion down on a slightly shallower part of the sea, where her head still reached above the surface. There was an edge right in front of her paws, where the shallows ended and the dark, deep sea reached god new how far down. Both of them felt uncanny sitting in the lion that was technically underwater, so instead they'd used the trapdoor to climb out on the back of the lion, perching themselves on her head. Their helmets sat nearby, since the atmosphere were compatible with human lungs. They could still hear if anyone contacted them, though.

After nearly fifteen minutes of terse silence, Shiro finally spoke.

“I don't think you're mad, Keith,” he blurted out. “You must know that. Please say you know that?” Keith sighed.

“I _know._ It's just... I get tired of being treated like I'm made out of porcelain. Everyone's walking on eggshells around me.” Shiro sighed, too.

“I know the feeling. After I came back from the galra... I don't think you even noticed, but you kinda... yeah, did the same thing.” Keith bit his lip. He hadn't even thought of it like that.

“I'm sorry...” he began.

“Don't be. I just said, I understand. Maybe more than everyone. And I know you're not mad. I've been where you are right now. Still am, sometimes...”

“Shiro, my... whatever it is, can _not_ be compared to your ptsd. You went through months of...” He stopped when Shiro flinched. “Sorry.”

“No, it's all right. I gotta learn to talk about it. But Keith, ptsd doesn't work like that. You can't compare two causes and deem one of them unworthy. You wouldn't do that with two different soldiers, would you?”

“No, but...”

“But what? When you're one of the soldiers it's suddenly okay? Let me tell you Keith, it's not. You have trauma from nearly dying, and that's okay. To be expected even. And yes, we shouldn't smother you, you're right. But sometimes... It's hard. I just want to make sure you're okay. And logically I know that physically you healed weeks ago, but...”

“But, yeah. I get it. I should apologise, too. We both took things too far, I guess, in opposite directions.” Shiro cracked a smile, and it wasn't as bleak as Keith would've expected it to be.

“Yeah, you're right. So we're good?”

“We're good.”

And as if that brotherly reunion wasn't enough to make this a cliché movie scene already, a shout echoed through the air. Keith spun around to face four galra climbing the black lion from behind.

“Fuck”, he swore. How in holy hell hadn't they heard them coming? It was too late now, anyway. Keith activated his bayard, and heard Shiro doing the same slightly behind him.

“Keith.” His voice was low, worried. He spoke urgently, hurrying to get it out before the galra reached them. “I know what we just talked about, but... Are you sure you can do this?”

“I don't know”, Keith admitted. “But it doesn't look like I have much choice. Don't worry too much about me, Shiro. I'll pull through, okay?” he added.

“Okay. Get ready, here they come.” Keith attacked the first galra that reached them, leaving the second and third for Shiro. Wielding his sword, he actually felt better than he had in _weeks._ Maybe they'd all been overreacting, maybe... His sword sliced a gash in the galra's arm and blood welled out, ribboning like a jolly Christmas decoration. Keith gripped his sword tighter, fought the urge to shut his eyes. That would guarantee a quick end to this fight.

_Okay, yeah no. Maybe we weren't overreacting but damn me if I can't even fight a single galra. Besides, I can't just leave them all to Shiro._

Focusing on that, he ignored his sword and instead used his full body-weight to slam the galra across the side of the lion, sending him plummeting into the sea below. Taking on the second galra, he didn't pay any attention to Shiro until he'd disarmed that one, too.

Turning around, he realised Shiro must've been distracted by keeping an eye on him, despite his promise not to right now. He still had one enemy left, and as Keith watched in horror, that one managed to get in a hit on Shiro's head. Curse the fact that neither of them had their helmets on! He was sent stumbling backwards, reeling on the rounded edge of the black lion.

His eyes met Keith's, and they were full of remorse.

He tipped backwards into the sea.

Keith roared, lifting his sword again and rammed it cleanly through the galra's midsection. Blood coated it when he pulled it out, but that was distant. He scrambled past the now dead galra, looking down into the water. He was hoping with all his might to see Shiro swimming to the shore down there, but alas, there was nothing. That blow on the head must've rendered Shiro unconscious, or at least too out of it to be able to swim. Cursing loudly and colourfully, he dived in right after.

Too late he realised he didn't wear his helmet either. It seemed stupid now, but there was no time to go back for it. If Shiro kept sinking, there was no telling how deep he'd go. Keith might not be able to get to him in time, or at all. Of course he didn't have his own fucking lion, he though as he swam down. He couldn't control black, but id red had been here, they could have snatched Shiro out of the water _easily._ Now he was forced to swim deeper and deeper, squinting through the salt water to catch sight of Shiro. His legs burned with the effort, his lungs fought to expand and the thrumming in his ears only increased the further down he got. But he couldn't stop. Not when Shiro was down there, probably feeling much, much worse.

Just when he thought his lungs would give out, simply burst from the pressure, he spotted something dark moving below him. At first he wasn't sure if it might be seaweed or something, but at this point he wasn't going to neglect a chance. Forcing his arms to work faster in order to catch up with the dark mass, he finally got close enough to see that it indeed was Shiro.

His eyes were closed, and worse; his mouth was open, a small trail of bubbles coming from it. If he hadn't been underwater, Keith would've let out a string of profanities right there and then. Drawing from the last of his strength, he grabbed Shiro's arm and hoisted the man up so that they were next to each other. _I've got you now,_ he thought. _I've got you._

His brother was very much unconscious, which meant that he now had to get both of them to the surface on his own. His arms were wound tightly around Shiro's shoulders, refusing to let go of him now, and so his legs had to all the work. His eyes never once left the light of the sky above, and even so, it didn't seem like they were getting any closer. His kicks were getting weaker and weaker, and for a few seconds his vision blackened. The pressure in his ears didn't seem to lighten. If anything, it became worse.

_I'm not going to make it,_ he realised. Unlike the last time, the realisation came with a sort of calmness to it. However, when he thought of Shiro getting stuck down here, body left to whatever fish lived here, all because he couldn't stop worrying about Keith... _No, that can't happen. It can't and it won't._ But he was so, so very tired... If Shiro would just wake up... But he knew that wouldn't happen. Forcing his eyes open again, he realised that they weren't moving upwards any longer. No, they actually seemed to sink deeper down again. Keith felt a pang of panic for Shiro's sake, but his legs just wouldn't respond, and soon neither did his eyelids. As they slipped shut for what he supposed was the final time, he thought he saw a dark shape above him.

But he was too deep down and his mind couldn't take it anymore. His mouth opened as his eyes slipped closed, shutting out the last of the daylight.

 

* * *

 

 

“Goddamn idiots, that's what you are, both of you. You're supposed to be the leaders, and both of you are goddamn idiots. _Wake up!_ Come on, if you don't wake up, I can't tell you how idiotic you are, and then what am I supposed to do? None of us are going to die peacefully. My ghost is going the roam the church yard for your ghosts just so that my ghost can tell your ghosts that. You. Are. _Idiots!_ ”

Lance voice was the first thing that came back to him. It began far away, but as he spit out the last words, it was right above him, along with a harsh thump on his chest. He had a feeling that the thump was supposed to do something, but he couldn't quite remember what, and he was slipping again and... “ _You. Are. Idiots!_ ” Three more thumps, and suddenly Keith's heart remembered what it had forgotten, and blood rushed to his brain, and all the signals and warning lamps flared up, telling him to _breathe._

 

* * *

 

 

Lance was not giving up, never, but Shiro and Keith were both laying on the back of the blue lion, pale, unmoving and worst of all – not breathing. Lance had already contacted the rest of the paladins, but it was going to take at least a few more minutes, and doing CPR on two persons at the same time was not something he was trained for. He'd doe his best and alternated between the two of them, but he was afrad it was not enough – so, so afraid. He was thumping on Keith's chest now, hardly with a rhythm anymore. It felt like he was just desperately knocking on the doors of their minds, begging their bodies to hear him and magically start working again.

Thumping one last time on Keith before he meant to continue with Shiro, he spat out one last _'Idiot!'_ and began turning when, miraculously, Keith heaved in one shuddering breath on his own. The red paladin lurched to the side, hacking up water and trying desperately to draw in breaths. He was failing miserably; there was still water in his lungs and he was too frazzled to properly cough it out before trying to draw a breath. At the same time, he couldn't leave Shiro just to coach Keith's breathing. Did they really have to go and drown at the same time? In the end, he decided that he'd keep thumping arrhythmically on Shiro's chest while talking encouragingly to Keith. Or, well. Encouragingly was maybe a bit of an overstatement.

“Get out the water first, idiot. Cough, then breathe. Come on, your heart is beating now, don't mess it up!”

 

* * *

 

 

Keith thought he was hallucinating it when he was lying on his side, desperately trying to rid his lungs of the water in them while his brain screamed at him to get oxygen. His brain did sound suspiciously alike to Lance, though...

“Don't pass out on me again, you mullet-wearing asshole! I didn't give you CPR just so that you could go and die again because you couldn't calm down!” Somehow, the shouting helped, at least a little bit. He finished retching salt water, and even though they weren't exactly even, or somewhat deep enough, he managed a few breaths. Collapsing back onto whatever surface he lied on previously, he closed his eyes and focused on drawing ragged breaths. Lance hadn't stopped talking, but it wasn't to Keith anymore, but then who?

“Shiro! Fuck!” he gasped, pushing himself back up. His arms were shaky and weak from swimming so deep, but they held his weight for now. It was indeed Shiro who was lying there, chest unnaturally still under Lance's pumping hands.

“I, fuck, Lance what...?”

“I know, okay? I know, but I can't... I can't-” He had to muffle a sob, and Keith wasn't far from it, too. Shiro had been unconscious for too long, he knew that. But he didn't know what to do about it. He didn't know, and he could barely breath, much less keep himself up, but he had to, because Shiro still wasn't breathing and...

Someone collapsed to their knees in between Keith and Lance. The yellow shirt told Keith it was Hunk. He was muttering something to Lance, and then the blue paladin sat back while Hunk resumed the CPR. Keith noted that Lance's arms were shaking; he must've been exhausted.

He wanted to say something, ask if it was even possible for Shiro to wake up by now, and argue with whoever said it wasn't. But he was still shaking, his body was still being wracked coughs. It was hard getting oxygen again, and dark patches danced across his field of vision. He saw the white mane of Allura's hair, heard her voice and saw something blu shine in his peripheral vision, and then...

A gasp, coughs that weren't his own, Lance breathing a sigh of relief and Hunk cheering. It could only mean one thing, but he had to see, had too see with his own eyes or else it might not be real.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him. Lance.

“It's okay, Keith. He's gonna be okay. He woke up.”

“No,” Keith croaked. “I need to... I need to see.”

“You need to breath properly, first of all. You're still not getting enough oxygen.”

“Don't care. Need to see Shiro.”

“Well, I care and Shiro cares, and everyone else bloody cares. Besides, you can't see him if you're passed out.”

“I'll listen to you... when I see Shiro,” he heaved out between shallow breaths.

“Geez, have anyone eve told you you're stubborn as fuck?” he asked, but a moment later Keith felt how Lance pushed him up in a sitting position, steadying him by the shoulders. He asked Hunk to move a bit, and there he was, lying on the ground. Still coughing, but his chest was heaving (perhaps more than Keith's did at the moment) and his eyes were open. Allura was helping him, rubbing his back and murmuring something.

Keith thought he heard his own name, but at that point, Lance was already pulling him away to lean against one of the blue lion's ears. Keith managed to get off his chest-plate, and just that made breathing easier.

“Okay, now, just follow my instructions. Breath in, hold it for five seconds, then out, hold for seven and in again.” He was still coughing now and then, and his arms felt like noodles someone had left in the pot for three hours too long, but he wasn't on the edge of passing out anymore. When Lance too had ensured that, the lecturing began.

“I _can't_ believe you two. Attacked by galra, and then you jump in the water without telling anyone, without your bloody helmets... You're goddamn lucky none of you suffered from decompression illness.”

“He didn't jump. He fell. And what was I supposed to do, leave him?”

“Put on your goddamn helmet seems like a good idea.”

“I... look, I didn't think. I couldn't see him, and I didn't know... I couldn't...” Lance's voice softened.

“Okay. It's okay. You're here now, aren't you?” But Keith wasn't really listening anymore, because Shiro sat up, and his eyes were roaming the lion's back, clearly searching for something. Ignoring Lance's protest, he got up and walked over haltingly. After a couple of steps, he simply let his legs give out beneath him. But he was close enough to wrap his arms around Shiro, and that was all that mattered. Burying his face in Shiro's neck, he had to hold back tears.

“I thought you were gone, Shiro. Fuck, I really thought...”

“I did too, for a second there.” Keith knew Shiro was trying to be strong, but his breath hitched at the end, and so he leaned in further, tightening his grip on his brother.

“You're here now,” he said, repeating Lance's words. “And I've got you. I've got you.”

And maybe they weren't okay. Far from, actually. But they were here, together. They breathed, their hearts beat. In the end, that was what mattered.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, maybe not totally super bad? Leave a comment or some kudos if it wasn't. Also, i have an instagram! Prepare for shameless selfpromo  
> @nerd_beyond_limits  
> I basically post shitty drawings, so if you're into that, check it out;)   
> I'm going to sleep now, bye


	3. We've taken different paths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last installment in I've got you brother. At the end of season six, Keith is left with some severe scars from his battle with Shiro's clone, both physical and mental. And how will they ever heal when he can't even look Shiro in the eyes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is super short, but i'm tired and season 7 airs in like nine hours and i need to sleep at least a little bit before that. So, I hope this is satisfactory, despite it's meager length.
> 
> Inspired by the song brother by kodaline, where the title is also from. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The third time changed it all.

The third time, Keith was standing on a small moon, with only his team and their lions. The castle was gone. They were betrayed, stranded and exhausted. And that still wasn't the worst. Because as it turned out, the person they had thought to be Shiro for several months wasn't Shiro at all, but a murderous clone controlled by Haggar.

Keith couldn't help but to feel that he should've known.

And now it was too late, and instead, he could barely look at his brother's face without feeling the pain from his wounds flare up, or hearing the sizzle as his sword cut clean through Shiro's – no, not Shiro – arm. Shiro had not woken up after Allura transferred his soul to his body – one of them. So at least he hadn't yet had to deal with looking into his eyes and pretend everything was fine while trying not to flinch.

It was horrible; Shiro's face didn't belong to him anymore, it belonged to a ruthless killer with purple eyes and scathing words.

Keith hated it, and it didn't take long before his already weakened state made him snap.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a small thing, really.

Their group was sitting around their campfire, and Keith had purposely placed himself so that he didn't have to look at Shiro.

Lance and Pidge was discussing how they could best fit all of the stuff everyone had brought into the five lions. Lance made a joke, and it was stupid. Normally, Keith wouldn't even have batted an eye upon hearing it. But now. Now, things were different.

“Well, we could just leave Keith behind.”

 

_I should've abandoned you like your parents did. They saw that you were broken. Worthless. I should've, too._

 

_Abandoned._

 

_Worthless._

 

_Broken._

 

_Abandoned_

_Abandoned_

_Abandoned_

 

“Keith!” His eyes snapped open, and he was staring into icy blue eyes. Allura. He brought his hands up to his eyes, rubbing them hard. What the hell was happening to him?

“Are you quite all right, Keith? You were really... out of it, for a second there.” Krolia's face appeared next to Allura's.

“What's going on, Keith?”

“Nothing,” he growled, pushing himself up and away from them. His limbs were begging him to sit down, rest, give himself a break. But he couldn't. Not when they were looking at him with those concerned eyes, when really, they had no idea what really went down between him and Shiro. Would they still look so worried if they knew he was the one who cut Shiro's – not Shiro – arm off?

A hand came to rest on his bicep, and he couldn't help that he flinched away from it.

“Hey, man- whoa! What was that?” Lance.

“ _Nothing._ I'm fine.”

“Clearly, you're not,” Pidge pointed out. In one quick motion, she pulled up a scanner and held it in front of her. It beeped after a second or not, and showed a display of what must've been Keith's body. It was highlighted in red in what was probably too many places. Pidge leaned out from behind it.

“Neither physically or mentally.”

“Talk to us. Please. What is going on?”

“What is going on? Is that what you wanna know? Oh, I'll tell you. The thing that is going on is that I can't even look at his face” he still didn't do it, only pointed in Shiro's direction. “Without hearing him taunting me, without feeling the blows he landed on me or his purple eyes staring back at me. My brother is killing me over and over again in my mind, and it isn't even my imagination, because it was this close to happening. So no, I'm not fucking okay.”

He sucked in a breath, ignoring the way his voice cracked at the end. There was a burning behind his eyes, and his throat stung, and all he really wanted was to go get out of here, but before he got the chance to, someone wrapped their arms around him. He flinched backwards, but the person didn't let go. If anything, they held on tighter, and Keith found him sagging into the embrace.

“Hey, hey. It's okay. You're okay.” Lance's voice. It was so soft and understanding, and yet somehow it completely broke Keith.

A sob wrecked his chest, and suddenly his legs gave out, and he and Lance was sent collapsing to the ground. Lance didn't seem to mind, though. He only brought Keith closer to his chest, holding one hand on the back of his head and the other one on his back, supporting his weight. Keith's brain told him that this was too vulnerable, too _open,_ but he didn't have the energy to care.

Instead, he buried his face in Lance's shoulder, tears making little _plops_ when they hit his armour. He was shaking with sobs, and he was too tired to do anything else than cry. Soon another pair of arms snaked themselves around his back.

Someone else embraced them from the side, and before he knew it, they were all encased in a group-hug, much like the one he'd gotten before he left for the Blade Of Marmora. Only this time, he didn't have to keep up a smiling facade, but neither did he need it as much. Despite the fact that he was literally bawling his eyes out, he felt much better than he had back then.

“We've got you, buddy. It's all right.”

 

* * *

 

In the end, Pidge and Lance offered to help him patch up his wounds, which he accepted gratefully. He was much too worn-out to manage it by himself and tired enough not to care about if he was being vulnerable enough to let them do it.

“Shit, man,” Lance said as he wrapped Keith's-apparently-broken-wrist in bandages. “You were just walking around with this? Fighting Lotor and stuff?” Keith did a half-shrug.

“It wasn't like I had a choice.”

“Still. This must be _painful._ ” When he didn't answer, Lance tapped him on the cheek.

“Hey, listen to me. Don't be afraid. Shiro will understand, okay?”

“That's the thing,” he sighed. “ He'll go on and say it's okay and all that, but... It would hurt him. I know that. And I don't want to...”

“You don't wanna hurt him, I get it. But you can't hurt yourself in order to achieve that. That's just contra productive, buddy. You can't just keep on walking and ignore stuff like this. It's serious.”

“I don't want it to be.”

“Well, hate to break it to you, but we don't always get to decide that. It is serious, but you'll be okay. You both will be. Trust me.”

 

* * *

 

Well, that was certainly put to test a day later when Shiro finally woke up. Allura was with him, helping Coran to look over his injuries and catching him up on what happened. Keith kept his distance, excusing himself to go and hunt in the sparse woods on the moon. In reality, he searched for the first best cliff he could find and climbed it. He'd been sitting there for nearly half an hour when Lance appeared next to him.

“Hey. Just though you'd wanna know, he was asking for you. But once Allura explained the situation, he was cool with it. He says that you should take your time.”

“I didn't want him to know.”

“He needed to. I'm sorry, but that's the facts. He's not mad, Keith.”

“But he's blaming himself.”

“I can't deny that, but he can handle it.”

“He shouldn't have to. Not alone.” He stood up. “I'm going to see him.” Lance followed him down the hill.

“Wait, are you sure about this?”

“No,” he answered and entered they small camp. Allura looked up from where she was kneeling on the ground. Her eyes widened when she saw him.

“Keith!” And then another voice, hoarser and softer.

“Keith is here?” _Abandon you abandon you abandon you._ Keith shook his head ever so slightly, willing the memories away.

“Yeah. I'm here.” Allura moved so that he could see Shiro propped up against a boulder, looking directly at him. _Purple eyes gleaming viciously, hand coming down to struck him in the face._

“Keith! I'm so glad to see you. Are you okay?” _Worthless._

“Yeah, I'm good.” Allura had stood up, and Keith took her place kneeling next to Shiro. _I'm not leaving without you._ Shiro extended an arm to hug him.

_Actually, neither of us are leaving._

The hurt look on Shiro's face was enough to know that he'd flinched back from him.

“Shiro, I'm sorry, so sorry, and I'm trying, but I can't, and I hate it, but-”

“Keith. Keith, breathe. It's okay. I understand. I don't like it, I don't like thinking that I did this to you,”

“It wasn't you. You wasn't in control,” Keith blurted. Shiro continued without acknowledging it.

“I don't like it, but I understand. Please, don't push yourself for my sake. I'll wait. And when you're ready, I'll be here.” Keith blinked harshly, forcing back tears.

“Yeah?” Shiro nodded.

“Always, Keith. I've always got you.”

“And I've got you.”  
  


They may have taken different paths and travelled different roads, but in the end, they'd always end up on the same one when they were old.

Because brothers have always got each other, no matter blood, parents or heritage. And Shiro and Keith would always be brothers.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is it! feel very free the leave a comment and some kudos, and i will see you next time
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Did I get all of this "medical data" from that one Sherlock episode where he got shot? Why yes, yes I did. 
> 
> Anyways, I hoped you liked this! Leave a comment and some kudos if you did, and while you're at it, why not head over to my series: The tale of Keith and Lance. I will probably update that before friday, too, so you're getting loads to read:)


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